"We are seeing the largest increases in the percentage of children with COVID since the beginning of the pandemic," said Dr. Debbie-Ann Shirley, a pediatric infectious disease specialist for UVA Health.
The former poet laureate [and UVA English professor] Rita Dove, whose new collection is “Playlist for the Apocalypse,” loves the Icelandic saga “Grettir the Strong”: “Bleak, modernist stuff! And yet revisiting that litany of betrayals and cruelties never fails to stir my spirits.”
(Commentary) Enter the nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking, a project partnership between Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia, which shows that, going into this summer, AOC had introduced 21 bills defined by the group as “substantive." Of those 21 bills, none received floor votes and, therefore, not one became actual law.
The University of Virginia’s Biocomplexity Institute, which has been tracking and predicting cases over the course of the pandemic, likened the rise in COVID-19 cases to a “storm” -- the epicenter of which began in Southern states of Florida and Louisiana, where vaccination rates are relatively low.
(Commentary) University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt wrote a 2012 book titled The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. He cites research implying that progressives focus strongly on three issues: social fairness, personal liberty, and caring for the weak. Conservatives partly share those urges, he says, but they also focus on three others: sanctity, respect for authority, and loyalty — qualities that breed political and religious conformity.
(Book review) “Playlist for the Apocalypse,” UVA English professor Rita Dove’s new book of poems, is among her best. The title makes it leap from the bookcase. It’s about life in what she calls this “shining, blistered republic.”
UVA is creating a space for student veterans on Grounds. The Veteran Student Center will open sometime this fall. There's no official date at this time, but it will be located on the bottom level of Newcomb Hall.
The vast majority of infections are still in unvaccinated people, says Liz Rogawski McQuade, a UVA infectious disease researcher. Some studies have found that the efficacy of vaccines is a bit lower against the delta variant, especially if you’ve only gotten one dose of an mRNA vaccine. But so far, it looks as if vaccines still largely work, especially in preventing many cases of severe illness, Rogawski McQuade said.
Virginia wants to be the top college softball program in the commonwealth. That lofty goal requires significant work for the Cavaliers, who went 15-33 in 2021 and haven’t had a winning season since going 26-25 in 2012.
Paige Madden’s life has changed dramatically in the last five weeks. The 22-year-old Mobile native [and recent UVA graduate] left home in late June, first spending more than two weeks in Honolulu before venturing to Tokyo for the 2021 Olympics. She returned home last Tuesday, carrying with her the silver medal she won as part of the United States 4x200-meter freestyle swimming relay team.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's announcement of a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for state employees could be especially impactful for UVA employees. First-year medical student Ben Angor supports the vaccine for employees. "Overall, like pushing like a health care system, I would say like trying to encourage as many as employees as possible to get vaccinated is a good thing," said Angor.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Friday appointed 21 people to the Virginia LGBTQ+ Advisory Board, including University of Virginia Assistant Vice Provost Matt Banfield and UVA Cancer Center Research Assistant for Community Outreach Bryan Price.
It was standing room only at Mudhouse Coffee in the Square Saturday, July 17, for an “Evening of Poetry and Prose” with poet [and UVA nursing professor] Virginia LeBaron, author of “Cardinal Marks,” and novelist Anna Caritj, author of “Leda and the Swan.”
The similarities between the Northam and Cuomo situations led University of Virginia Center for Politics Director Larry Sabato to tweet in March, "#Cuomo is pulling a Northam." Eventually, the national conversation moved on from Northam, who resisted the calls to leave office and went on to rehabilitate his image within the Democratic Party, in large part by championing liberal policies on issues, including gun control, civil rights and marijuana.
The bill that Northam referenced is getting mixed interpretations since Holsworth said masks has become a “very political” issue. In fact, Republican State Senator Siobhan, who sponsored the bill, still believes school divisions should be allowed to make their own policies on masks. But legal experts disagree with that interpretation. “I tend to agree with the governor that no additional mandate is required,” Margaret Foster Riley, a professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law, said. “If you actually look at the plain words of the statute, is there any ambiguity in the statute...
Andrew Pennock, a public policy professor at the University of Virginia, said Northam's political quandary is more about compliance than the election. Democrats in Northern Virginia, where vaccination rates are higher than they are in redder parts of the states, likely don’t need to be convinced to be more cautious, Pennock said. But places where mask mandates would be most beneficial — in less vaccinated areas — are also the most likely to buck them, he said.
As politicians debate mask mandates in schools, Dr. Ebony Hilton with the University of Virginia's School of Medicine joins to discuss the risk from unvaccinated adults to kids as the pandemic continues.
Dr. Ebony Hilton with the UVA School of Medicine joins to discuss the toll the ongoing Covid pandemic – and the Delta variant-fueled surge – is having on health care professionals.
(By A.D. Carson, assistant professor of hip-hop) Whenever I teach courses on hip-hop at the University of Virginia, I provide a brief overview of where hip-hop music began. One of the important dates I use is Aug. 11, 1973. That’s when DJ Kool Herc, who was 18 at the time, threw a “Back To School Jam” for his sister Cindy in the South Bronx – in the rec room at 1520 Sedgwick Ave., to be specific.
Studies show that nature can be a healing and restorative force. That’s why the Kluge Ruhe Aboriginal Art Museum has opened up a new outdoor art exhibit entitled “Breathe With Me: A Wandering Sculpture Trail.”